Advanced Wood-Based Solutions for Mid-Rise and High-Rise Construction: In-Situ Testing of the Brock Commons 18-Storey Building for Vibration and Acoustic performances
This report addresses serviceability issues of tall wood buildings focusing on their vibration and sound insulation performance. The sound insulation and vibration performance may not affect the building’s safety, but affects the occupants’ comfort and the proper operation of the buildings and the function of sensitive equipment, consequently the acceptance of the midrise and tall wood buildings in market place. Lack of data, knowledge and experience of sound and vibration performance of tall wood buildings is one of the issues related to design and construction of tall wood buildings.
The measured and estimated values should also be correlated with actual experiences of the occupants in the building if such information is obtained, for example, through a survey.
To support the associated Sir Matthew Begbie Elementary School and Bayview Elementary School projects in pushing the boundaries forward for long-span floor and roof construction, this testing project aims to compare different connection approaches for composite connections between glulam and cross-laminated timber (CLT) – for vibration, stiffness, and strength. Working with the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), Fast + Epp aimed to complete a series of vibration and monotonic load tests on 30’ long full-scale double-T ribbed panels. The tests consisted of screws in withdrawal, screws in shear, and nominal screws clamping with glue. Both the strength and stiffness are of interest, including slip stiffness of each connection type. This physical testing was completed in January and February 2020, where the full composite strength of each system was reached. Initial data analysis has provided information for comparison with existing models for shear connection stiffness. Publications will follow in 2021.
When designing a tall timber building, the accelerations due to wind loads are in many cases decisive. The parameters governing the dynamic behaviour of the building are the structure's stiffness, damping and mass together with the loads. The first two parameters are not well-known during the serviceability limit state of timber structures generally and of timber connections specifically. In this study, dynamical properties of a large glulam truss, a part of the vertical and horizontal structural system in a residential six-storey timber building, are estimated from measurements made in the manufacturing plant. The timber members of the truss are joined with slotted-in steel plates and dowels. Forced vibrational test data are used to extract the dynamical properties. Finite element (FE) models, supported by the experimental results, were developed and simulations, to study the influence of the connection stiffnesses on the total behaviour, were performed. The vibration test results of measurements made on separate structural parts give valuable input to model timber structures and better possibilities to simulate the dynamic behaviour of tall timber buildings as well as the load distribution in wooden structures in the serviceability limit state.
Earthquake-resisting performance of glulam frame structure was evaluated by shaking table tests on a specially designed glulam “double cross shape” specimen composed of slotted bolted connection (SBC) system. By the first vibration test using sinusoidal wave, the specimen survived until 80% level of input waves without damage. After renewing SBC system, the second vibration test was done on a same specimen using the JMA-Kobe NS waves having a maximum acceleration of 816gal. The specimen survived until 100% level of input without damage but failed by the panel-shear when 120% level was inputted. Earthquake-resisting performance of glulam moment-resisting joints composed of SBC system was considered as satisfactory enough for ductile joint system, but improvement of panelshear of glulam member itself was recognized as a future research need.
The correlation between the bending elastic modulus of lumbers along the primary direction and that of the resultant cross-laminated timber (CLT) plates in the full size suitable for slabs or wallboards was investigated to verify the feasibility of predicting the bending performance during the manufacturing of heavy building structures of this new type of material. A batch of Canada hemlocks lumber was graded based on a vibrational test that measures longitudinal elastic modulus. The elastic modulus and shear modulus in the transverse direction were also measured using the scheme of a torsional modal analysis of a cantilever plate. CLT were fabricated using the graded lumbers in sizes suitable for slabs or wallboards. The elastic moduli of these CLT products were measured using a conventional four-point static bending test. Finally, the static measurements of the elastic moduli of the CLT were compared with their predicted values that were calculated with the aforementioned data collected from the lumber pieces. The predicted elastic modulus along the primary direction of a CLT product agreed with the measured values. Therefore, the mathematical model of the CLT plate and the equation of its elastic modulus are feasible for the bending performance prediction in industrial production of CLT.
FPInnovations has been conducting a series of field testing on wood mid-rise and tall wood buildings, including this 4-story mass timber building in Vancouver, to measure their dynamic performance. The general objectives of the field measurements of the building wind-induced vibrations and sound insulation performance are to develop improved knowledge and assemble a database of wind-induced vibration and sound insulation performance of mid-rise and tall-wood buildings. Ambient vibration and ASTM acoustic testing were performed to measure the dynamic performance of the building including the building natural frequencies, damping ratios and mode shapes. It was found that the measured first natural frequency and damping ratio of this building are overall similar to those measured from other 4-storey buildings that have exhibited good wind-induced vibration performance. The measured apparent impact insulation performance (AIIC) of 58 is considered as a satisfactory sound insulation performance indicator according to FPInnovations’ field experience about occupant satisfaction. It is believed that the test results will help the designers to obtain insight into the construction details of the building and the correlations between the details and the final performances in terms of building dynamic and sound insulation performance. Furthermore, the test results provided reliable data on the vibration and the sound insulation performance of the selected floor assemblies. The measured AIIC, building natural frequencies, and damping ratios can provide technical reference to architects and engineers to verify their designs and the design tools used.
FPInnovations has been conducting a series of field testing on mid-rise and tall-wood buildings including this 6-storey wood-frame building in Victoria to measure their dynamic performance.The general objectives of the field measurements of the building wind-induced vibrations and sound insulation performance are: to develop improved knowledge and assemble a database of wind-induced vibration and sound insulation performance of mid-rise and tall-wood buildings, especially prefabricated wood construction; to verify the application of the NBCC design method for wind-induced vibration control for wood construction; and to verify the design tools used by designers for controlling the wind-induced vibrations and noise in mid-rise and tall-wood buildings.
Three performance attributes of a building for serviceability performance are 1) vibration of the whole building structure, 2) vibration of the floor system, typically in regards to motions in a localized area within the entire floor plate, and 3) sound insulation performance of the wall and floor assemblies. Serviceability performance of a building is important as it affects the comfort of its occupants and the functionality of sensitive equipment as well. Many physical factors influence these performances. Designers use various parameters to account for them in their designs and different criteria to manage these performances.
The overall objectives of this stud were threefold:
1. The vibration performance tests were to experimentally determine the dynamic properties, e.g., natural frequencies (periods) and damping ratios of the WIDC building through ambient vibration testing on:
(1) the bare structure in 2014,
(2) the finished building upon completion of the construction with occupants in 2015, and
(3) the finished building after 3 years of service in 2017.
2. The floor vibration tests were to evaluate vibration performance of the innovative CLT floor based on the bare floor fundamental natural frequency, 1 kN static deflection, and subjective evaluation.
3. The sound transmission tests were to determine the Apparent Sound Transmision Class (ASTC) and Apparent Impact Insulation Class (AIIC) of selected innovative CLT floor assemblies.
